1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of telecommunications and, in particular, to a method and apparatus for synchronizing information browsing in a network environment.
2. Background Information
As computer technology has advanced the use of networks has continually increased. A network refers to a system which can couple together two or more computer systems such that the computer systems can communicate with one another. One current network which has recently gained widespread popularity is the Internet, which is a global network allowing individuals throughout the world to communicate with one another.
Communication over the Internet is typically between two computer systems referred to as a client system and a host system. The host system (also referred to as a web server) is the content provider. In other words, content (also referred to as information or data) is provided by the host system to the client system. Host systems often store a large amount of content, with the specific content to be provided to a particular client system being dependent on the request(s) of the client system.
One currently popular use of the Internet is to provide corporate information or content delivery to individual users. Various companies connect host systems to the Internet and make information regarding the company, such as its products and/or services, available to anyone using a client system. Given that many individuals are already accessing host systems to obtain more information about company products and services, it would be beneficial to provide a way to enhance an individual's ability to purchase and/or inquire about products and/or information he or she discovers on the host system. For example, it would be useful to provide a way for a sales agent of a corporation using one computer system to actively assist in the browsing and/or purchasing of products by an individual using a client system to access the corporation's host system.
One problem that can be encountered when using the Internet is that of firewalls. A firewall is used as a shield between an internal network of client computers and an external network such as the Internet. A firewall is typically an additional computer system which allows only certain accesses between the internal network and the external network, based on the programming of the firewall. By limiting external access to the internal network, additional security is provided for the internal network. Thus, it would be beneficial to provide a way to enhance an individual's ability to purchase and/or inquire about products and/or information he or she discovers on a host system without concern for whether the individual or a sales agent is using a system which is located behind a firewall.
As will be described in more detail below, the present invention provides a method and apparatus for synchronizing network browsing among multiple systems which achieves these and other desired results which will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the description that follows.